Bronco Owners Going Soft?

[Texas Sunshine]

My dad never had a decent vehicle so A/C was not a choice growing up and riding in the back of the truck was an honor. Even when the wooden slats (1960's) in the bed were wearing out. When the time came to get our drivers license, if you couldn't drive a stick, you didn't get your license. Suck it up butter cup. Rant over.

I do like A/C, not gonna lie!

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[Petey]

Well, only if a "Base Bronco" was actually a "Base" Bronco

The original "Base" Bronco had vinyl seats and a rubber floor mat.

To get that today, you have to move two clicks up to the Black Diamond.

Some Ford Marketing whizkid is laughing him/her self silly that we're willing to pay more for what was a base trim level.

I want the base Bronco to have:

• Vinyl seats
• No floor at all, not even rubber, just straight steel frame
• No floor mats
• Hand crank windows
• No cruise
• No infoscreen ~ just a giant plastic delete where the stereo would be (True Bronco owners drive in silence)
• No A/C (that's also extra)

 

[KindaOrange]

As I spent some time perusing the site this weekend I was taken aback by some things.

To me (as a 47 year old guy) the Bronco harkens back to the rugged individualists like our fathers and grandfathers. A tough as nails ride that could do things unheard of at the time for a commercially produced vehicle.

But are we too modern? Are we too soft?

I see threads complaining about not being able to get air conditioned seats at a certain trim level. Do you think your grandad was worried about cold air blowing up his rear end while he ran his Bronco down to the lake to go fishing? If cold air up the backside is so important then just maybe a vehicle designed to have the top and doors off may not be right for you.

Lots of complaints about vinyl seats being too hot and sweaty. Basically, see the above comments. Some of y'all never rode around on vinyl bench seats in your grandmas old car without air conditioning back in the day and it shows. I can remember peeling myself off the vinyl/pleather seats in an old VW my aunt drove back then. No permanent harm. You too shall survive.

I saw some nit picking about not having built in garage door openers in the visors at some trim levels. Really? Are we really this needy? Is the indignity of having to carry around a garage door opener just going to be a deal breaker? It's possibly the most capable off road vehicle straight off the showroom floor ever produced. . . but we're going to stress no opener. C'mon man.

Complaints about not being able to get a 12 inch screen at some trims abound as well. You're driving a vehicle, not watching netflix. You don't need a giant flat screen planted in the middle of your dash in order to properly operate your rig. Look out the window. See the world around you. Pay attention to the idiots driving around looking at their screen(s) and take evasive action. Stop staring at the thing parked in your dash. It's overkill.

I think some here may be better serviced by getting something like a Land Rover/Range Rover or other luxury SUV. There you can ride around pampered, cold air blowing up your arse, as you push the button to open the garage to park your ride in so it won't dare get dirty. I've owned those. They are great. But they are a FAR cry from their off road/rugged heritage. If that's what you want or need, go get it.

A Bronco is going to be many different things to many different people but the breed/brand is hard and outdoorsy. It's not refinement and luxury. It's rugged and rough around the edges. It is not skinny jeans sipping a latte on the way to spin class . . . it's wearing carharts with some black coffee on the way to spend time in the outdoors on a mountain bike. So behave accordingly.

Just one grumpy old man opinion. Rant is over. Now, get off my lawn. ;-)

I SWEAR TO MY ATHEIST GAWD! IF I CAN'T INSTAGRAM ON MY 12" TV FROM MY CAR, UGHH! BOOMERS! WHERE'S MY LAPDOG?!

 

[dejones64]

I'm in my 50's, there are times I wish I was back in the 1960's, when times were simpler, without technology getting in my way. Odd coming from a guy that's in IT. I don't want to live off the grid but I want to get away from the grid from time to time. This Bronco will help me get there. Though I probably will be bringing stuff that requires a portable battery unit, LOL.

 

[carlviens]

I am sure you wish you posted this with a pigeon or a telegraph

Products must evolve to meet today's and tomorrow's reality. Do I agree with all the complaining, no. But I do understand that when you're throwing $40-50K on a vehicle, at some point you compare to what the market offers in that price range.

If so many people ask for cooled seats, what prevents Ford from improving its offer for 2022 and make it an option or even a new High Package feature?

Tesla sells great cars, but also sells an operating system that comes with a giant screen. People, the customers aka the money suppliers, are expecting that in modern cars. They want the best tech now so it ages well and don't fall behind right after delivery.

I do understand you, I read the same complaining and crying - I'm just providing a different PoV.

 

[MCG DAWG]

I SWEAR TO MY ATHEIST GAWD! IF I CAN'T INSTAGRAM ON MY 12" TV FROM MY CAR, UGHH! BOOMERS! WHERE'S MY LAPDOG?!

Change Boomer to Gen X'ers and you got me.

 

[Mattwings]

I love the technology and as long as it is somewhat "defeatable" so I get the mechanical connection to the road/trail/water that I enjoy, I am up for most of it (NO A/C? No Thanks). That being said, I do not care for the complexity if something goes wrong. Have you looked at a schematic for any of the recently built vehicles? If you have an intermittent issue (my 2011 Ford Edge just won't crank about 2 times a year. It sits for 2 days at the shop, starts, throws no codes) you are really in a pickle. I am going Outer Banks, so middle of the road, but if my wife enjoys the Bronco, I get more time in it, so there is that too

 

[WadeWolf76]

This sounds very similar to all the threads on Jeep forums when a new model comes out with a slightly convenient feature that the last model didn't have.

 

[frinesi2]

Interesting story, they didn't invent air conditioning because of heat, they invented it because of humidity, for printing. As it turns out cooling was a side effect. And is also how we ended up with summer blockbusters (theaters were some of the first and only places with AC, driving large numbers of people to see movies so they could stay cool in summer)
but your point still stands, i just have always found this story interesting and wanted to share

That actually makes a lot of sense. I learned something today haha.

 

[Paint]

This is me, reading this thread.

 

[Ocnorb]

I'm in my 50's, there are times I wish I was back in the 1960's, when times were simpler, without technology getting in my way. Odd coming from a guy that's in IT. I don't want to live off the grid but I want to get away from the grid from time to time. This Bronco will help me get there. Though I probably will be bringing stuff that requires a portable battery unit, LOL.

I'm 32, but same sentiments (and also IT). I spend so much time staring at screens, that honestly I wish the Bronco had less of them. But, I'm also navigationally challenged, and have come to rely on Android Auto and Waze/Maps. I'd be much happier if the instrument cluster was just standard gauges. Not a fan of the analog gauge and the rest of it being an LCD.

I've come to accept that this level of tech is just expected in modern vehicles, and it's not going away. Part of me wants to believe that things are actually simpler, if there's just one box controlling all the engine management and everything else...but it's been that way for years anyhow. Most of my concerns come from the software. Working in IT has taught me that software developers are umm...how do I put this? Special people. Being locked into specific software scares me. I just hope that an acceptable level of customizability is there, and I hope to god that the screens on the dash are at least very good quality displays such as IPS. OLED would be dope, but I imagine they wouldn't use that due to the burn-in issues.

 

[Tdifonzo]

Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Welcome to 2020!

 

[2Jeeps&PatriotX1]

soft...maybe. But when you're spending $60k on a Bronco (which our granddads didn't spend on vehicles) and Ford offers these options as a la carte or part of packages in their F150s that you've been accustomed to, then yes, I expect the option. If someone hasn't ridden in today's F150, I think it will blow you away with how comfortable, plush and the wide array of options it has. I know mine does and it gets wheeled just as hard as majority of the broncos will see and its nice to have these options when spending that $. I have a wrangler I can hop in if I want swamp ass with the vinyl seat covers. Hence why my jeep sits in the garage and I enjoy my drive in the truck.

 

[dejones64]

Quick, find the truck in this picture!

 

[Maximus]

I don't want or need the screens that are present in many of the lux vehicles today (I am looking at you Tesla/Audi/Volvo). I think there are some basics that are minimum attributes for a vehicle to be produced in 2020. 60 grand is some sturdy cash, and yes it is not 90 grand and a Land Cruiser level of bleep.

I do love the message, but we all have baselines, where those stand are different for each person.

Internet forum yapping reminds me..

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